The present invention relates generally to an information processor having an operating system in which plural sets of software are simultaneously operable and, more particularly, to a software linking system in the information processor, wherein the software can be operated in linkage with other software by obtaining information of the software in the process of operation.
FIG. 35 is a diagram showing an example of a screen of a hyper media type software linking system using Object Linking and Embedding (hereinafter abbreviated to OLE) known as a software linking technology of the Microsoft Corporation.
Herein, the hyper media is defined such that a linkage is actualized by incorporating, into the linking-source software, information such as anchor information for recognizing the linked software performing a linking operation for the linkage. To be specific, as in the screen example shown in FIG. 35, linking-source software A112 pastes and displays a part of a file BB115 in a software format B114 on a window in which a file AA113 in its own format is opened, and, when an event through a mouse 111 occurs in a portion of the file BB115 on the software A112, opens the file BB115 by starting up the software B114 defined as original software of the file BB115 as the linked software, thus effecting a window display.
As explained above, the conventional software linking system using the OLE involves the operation of previously pasting the file BB115 in the linked software B114 format to the file AA113 in the linking-source software A112 format, and executes the software linkage with a pasted content used as anchor information. Information of the pasted content and the information such as the linked software are retained in the file AA113 in the linking-source software A112.
A function of processing an anchor, which is needed for linking the software, exists only within the software, and the anchor process is separately incorporated per software and executed. Hence, the software having no OLE function is unable to retain the anchor information and is not therefore qualified to become the linking-source software.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention, which has been contrived to obviate the problems as described above, to provide a software linking system in an information processor, in which the software runs both on a linking-source side and on a linked side by executing the anchor process outside the linking software without changing the linking software and a file in a format thereof.
To accomplish the above-described object, a software linking system in an information processor according to the present invention has the information processor having an operating system in which plural sets of software are simultaneously operable, and comprises an information obtaining means for obtaining information within the information processor, an anchor identifying means for judging whether or not there exists anchor information for specifying a linkage condition under which linking-source software recognizes linked software on the basis of the information obtained by the information obtaining means, and a linkage executing means for executing the linked software performing a linking operation corresponding to the anchor information identified by the anchor identifying means.
Further, the information obtaining means is characterized by comprising an information obtainment registering unit for registering the operating system with an information obtainment in order to receive, instead of the linking-source software, the information sent by the operating system of the information processor, and an information receiving unit for receiving the information sent from the operating system.
Moreover, the information obtaining means is characterized by comprising a transparent window unit for covering a window displayed on a screen by the linking-source software, and a window information obtaining unit for obtaining information inputted to the transparent window unit.
Furthermore, the information obtaining means is characterized by comprising an obtained information table storage unit in which information to be obtained is registered and accumulated, and an information obtaining unit for obtaining the information registered in the obtained information table storage unit.
Further, the anchor identifying means is characterized by comprising an anchor information table storage unit in which the anchor information is registered and accumulated, and an anchor collating unit for collating the information obtained by the information obtaining means with the information existing in the anchor information table storage unit.
Additionally, the anchor identifying means is characterized by further comprising an information sending unit for sending, if there exists no such anchor information that the information obtained by the information obtaining means meets with the condition, the information to a program of the linking-source software.
Furthermore, the anchor identifying means is characterized by further comprising an anchor registering unit for registering the anchor information table storage unit with the anchor information.
Moreover, the anchor identifying means is characterized by further comprising an obtained information accumulating means for accumulating the information obtained by the information obtaining means, and the anchor collating unit makes the anchor collation possible based on a combination of plural pieces of information accumulated in the obtained information accumulating means.
Furthermore, the anchor identifying means is characterized by further comprising a linkage anchor accumulating unit for accumulating all the anchor information judged to meet with the condition in the anchor collating unit and outputting the anchor information to the linkage executing means.
Additionally, the linkage executing means is characterized by comprising a linkage information table storage unit for registering and accumulating the software linkage information, a linkage information obtaining unit for obtaining, from the linkage information table storage unit, the software linkage information corresponding to the anchor information obtained from the anchor identifying means, and a linkage information executing unit for issuing an execution command to the linked software from the software linkage information obtained by the linkage information obtaining unit.
The software linking system in the information processor is characterized by further comprising an anchor displaying means for displaying on a screen the anchor information identified or registered and accumulated by the anchor identifying means.
Moreover, a software linking system in an information processor according to another aspect of the present invention has the information processor having an operating system in which plural sets of software are simultaneously operable, and comprises a file converting means for converting a file of the linking-source software or a content displayed in a window into an anchor-identifiable software format, and a linkage executing means for executing the linked software corresponding to the anchor information identified by the anchor-identifiable software.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereunder and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein: